Love Is The Tender Trap
by clockworkandsteam
Summary: Alfred is a huge baby when it comes to taking his medicine, Arthur found out. Why did this man have to get sick?


He could hear it from the study, which mind you, was on the other side of the house. He heard Alfred's whining and moaning and all Arthur could do was roll his eyes at his boyfriend's irritating vocalizations. Deciding to go check up on him, Arthur got up from his chair, abandoning his work, and made his way through the extensive hallway to the living room.

Upon entering the room Arthur noticed his boyfriend in a heap of blankets with bits of tissue stuffed in his nostrils. Rolling his eyes, although with a touch of concern, he walked to Alfred. Observing the shivering and noisy heap, he concluded he ought to do something about it. Striding to the kitchen, Arthur retrieved a washcloth from a drawer and dampened it.

Putting the cloth on Alfred's head he heard an audible sigh of relief from him. He grinned ever so slightly at this. When he thought about the fact that Alfred must be parched from the fever he was experiencing he deduced he should probably get him a glass of water. Although when he was about to go get the beverage, Alfred immediately extended a weak arm grabbing his shirt cuff.

With a touch of curiosity, Arthur looked onto his boyfriend to see the man's rosy complexion and blue, watery eyes staring up at him. "What do you want, my dear?" Arthur asked.

"Some water and maybe a kiss?" Alfred croaked out pathetically.

"I will get you water, but I'm certainly not getting sick because of you."

"Aw c'mon, Artie! Don't be like that. All I'm askin' for is a small peck on the cheek" He whined.

Arthur rolled his eyes at his boyfriend's pathetic pleas."Poppet, please stop acting like an insolent child."

"Artie…" Alfred trailed off sadly, his hold on Arthur's sleeve lessened.

Arthur's deadpanned expression faltered a bit, caving in, Arthur sighed and held Alfred's hand. Leaning down he kissed his cheek. "Now mind you, I won't kiss you on the lips I don't need to get sick right now, especially with all the work I have to do."

Seemingly satisfied with this, Alfred nodded, only to provoke a coughing fit. Arthur shook his head with a small smile before proceeding to the kitchen. He got a glass from the one cabinet and filled it full of cold water. "I hope you know, poppet, that you have to take medicine with this" Arthur called out to his partner.

"No~ Please no, please, Artie. I don't need medicine! I'm fine!" Alfred called out feebly from his bundle of blankets.

"You most certainly do need medicine, you have so many tissues scattered all over the coffee table. You've been sneezing and coughing for hours, and from what I've gathered from kissing your cheek you have a slight fever. You need medicine."

"You've got some skillful lips to be able to tell I have a fever, huh?" Arthur could _hear_ the smirk in Alfred's voice.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you?"

This response seemed to shut Alfred up, causing Arthur to grin. In one hand there was medicine, in the other, a glass of water, Arthur walked to Alfred and set both on the table. Alfred tried hiding his face with the blankets, refusing to let Arthur do anything. Irritated, the Briton grabbed at the blankets, trying to pull them from Alfred's face "Alfred! You're going to take medicine whether you want to or not!"

"No!" Alfred said jerking his body inwards towards the couch, away from Arthur.

Arthur, giving up for a minute, thought something up, "If you let me give you medicine, I'll kiss you on the lips."

Alfred paused his erratic movements for a moment before mumbling "The lips?"

"Yes, the lips."

Alfred rolled over to face Arthur, pushing himself up a touch, "Okay" he said with a voice of utter defeat.

"Fantastic" Arthur replied, sitting on his knees in front of Alfred so that they were at eye-level.

He grabbed the small medicine cup and put a hand on the back of Alfred's head, the latter opening his mouth hesitantly, awaiting his doom. Arthur fed the American the red liquid before handing him a glass of water, which Alfred took a hold of with a disgusted face.

Alfred downed the glass in record speeds, "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Arthur smirked at him.

"You're evil, I swear" He replied, letting himself lie down in his mess of blankets again, "You gotta uphold your end of the bargain, ya know."

"Mhmm, I know."

Arthur ran his fingers through the American's sweaty hair and kissed him softly. Alfred sighed contentedly. The Briton remarked how Alfred's lips were so very chapped and heated with fever. After pulling away from the gentle kiss which had felt like an eternity, a blissful eternity at that, Arthur stood up. "Where are you going now?" Alfred asked sadly.

"I was going to go get you more water, you seem parched still."

"I-I'm not though! Maybe you could just… Stay here?"

Arthur eyed him curiously "Where would I sit? You practically take up the whole couch, darling."

Alfred immediately started squirming on the couch, pushing his body as close to the back of it as he could. "You could… Maybe we could cuddle, if you don't mind?"

Arthur stood there for a minute, seemingly debating whether or not he should in his head. Alfred looked onto his boyfriend nervously. He hoped Arthur would just cave in and let him snuggle into his shoulder.

"If you don't get me sick… Perhaps, yes. We can cuddle, but if you sneeze on me I swear to _Jesus Christ_ himse-"

"I won't sneeze on you, I promise! Please Artie!" Alfred said, only sneezing into the crook of his elbow moments later.

Arthur shook his head before lying down next to Alfred on the couch. Alfred looped his arms around Arthur, pulling his back closer towards Alfred's front. Resting his hot face against Arthur's pale neck, the American closed his eyes, sighing happily.

Alfred sneezed into his elbow afterwards before profusely apologizing to which Arthur waved off. "You're sick, it's to be expected" was all he said. Alfred smiled, thinking to himself about how much he cared for this man. He was his, and he was Arthur's. This is all he could ever want in his entire life.

They laid there for a while before Arthur felt a hand snaking up his shirt. Without opening his eyes he said, "Sweetheart, is that your hand I feel on my running up my torso?"

"...Maybe?"

"Why's it doing that?"

"Because, you're wearing my shirts again, which are a bit big on you. You must get tangled up in them, so I thought I'd relieve you from that" Alfred whispered in Arthur's ear, causing a slight shiver crawl down the other man's spine.

"Poppet, you're sick. I'm quite sure what you want is going to make me ill" He mumbled.

"What do I want? I was just trying to get you out of this shirt which must be a pain."

"Yes it is a pain, just like its owner" Arthur replied cheekily.

Pulling the Briton closer to himself, Alfred kissed the back of Arthur's neck. "I might be a pain, but you're still with me. I like to consider that an accomplishment."

Arthur hummed in response, turning over to face Alfred. Cupping the latter's face, Arthur pressed a kiss against Alfred's lips. Somewhat taken by surprise, Alfred's eyes widened only to quickly close a second later as he kissed his partner back. Pulling apart, Alfred nuzzled his boyfriend's face before murmuring "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too, Poppet."

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Notes:

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Alright so, first off, I want to say the title is the title of a Frank Sinatra song, you should check it out! I wrote this one because I've been wanting to write a fic where one of them is sick, I figured Alfred being sick would be much funnier. We all know that Alfred is just a manchild so I figured he'd be the kind not to take his medicine and would much rather fight.

I hope you like it, and if you have any constructive criticisms about the characterization or anything else I would love for you to tell me where I could improve. Thank you and have a good day!


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